In a new interview with Primordial Radio, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach spoke about how he and his bandmates find a balance between pleasing their fans but also challenging themselves to achieve something that they’ve never done before. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I think it’s important to be satisfied within yourself. I think bands can fall into the trap of pleasing the audience too much. I think what makes a band great is when they hone their creativity and you lead your fans in a direction. I think it’s dangerous — you can run the risk of becoming a nostalgia act if you play too much to the audience, ’cause sometimes the audience doesn’t know what they want until they hear something different. And then they’re, like, ‘Oh, that’s unexpected. That’s pretty cool. I didn’t see that coming. And I actually really like that.’ So for me, bands that I’m a fan of, when they turn a bit of a corner and go into another direction, I’m, like, ‘That’s all right. Let’s sit with this.’ Oftentimes the different things become my favorite, because I’m so used to a certain sound.”
Referencing a press release accompanying KILLSWITCH ENGAGE‘s new album, “This Consequence”, in which guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz declared that “the goal is to make the fans happy”, Jesse said: “I know what Adam says in that sentiment, ’cause we do care very much about our fanbase, and they do sort of, especially live, lead us. If they’re in a good place and the audience is great, naturally the show is gonna be really good. But I think with records and your style and your sound, you need to be careful with pleasing somebody and then sort of internally being satisfied artistically to know that you’re doing something that feels genuine. It doesn’t feel forced into a corner because, ‘Oh, this is the KILLSWITCH sound.’ For me, it’s exciting to push that. And we’re not going too far outside of the confines [on ‘This Consequence’] — it’s not like we wrote a black metal song straight up or a death metal song straight up — you’re still getting the elements that you’ve gotten used to where you’re gonna have a message, you’re gonna have some melody here. I think it all sort of still is in a comfortable place for most fans.”
“This Consequence” came out on February 21 via Metal Blade. It is KILLSWITCH ENGAGE‘s ninth LP overall, and sixth with Leach, who rejoined the band in 2012.
“This Consequence” is the follow-up to “Atonement”, which was released in August 2019 via Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment in the rest of the world. The disc featured guest appearances by former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Howard Jones and TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy.
Leach previously stated about “This Consequence”: “Making this record lit a fire under my ass and made me rethink everything. It had to be next level. It had to be different enough for people to really recognize we’re putting forth an effort — or what’s the point of doing this? There was no repeating ourselves. It was very carefully planned out and passionately written. It sounds like KILLSWITCH yet there’s also a fresh spirit to it.”
In 2002, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE‘s “Alive Or Just Breathing” album sent shockwaves through the culture, claiming a spot on Decibel‘s “The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time.” They generated north of three billion streams and picked up gold and platinum plaques for “The End Of Heartache” and “As Day Light Dies”, respectively. They notably received three Grammy Award nominations for “Best Metal Performance” and cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 with a trio of consecutive releases: “Killswitch Engage” (2009),“Disarm The Descent” (2013) and “Incarnate” (2016). Meanwhile, 2019’s “Atonement” represented a critical high watermark with praise from Forbes, Revolver and NME, who christened it “one of the most engaged and exciting records that KILLSWITCH has ever made.” The guys have not only packed houses on repeated successful headline tours across the globe, but they have consistently held their own sharing bills with acts from IRON MAIDEN, SLIPKNOT and SLAYER to MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, RISE AGAINST and COHEED AND CAMBRIA.
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE will embark on a headline tour in March 2025. It’s their first tour of North America since late 2022. The trek will feature support from KUBLAI KHAN TX, FIT FOR A KING and FROZEN SOUL, and will kick off on March 5 in Nashville and runs through April 12 in Portland, Maine.
Source: blabbermouth.net
